Nintendo 3DS Going Widescreen?

An FCC filing submitted by Nintendo and Mitsumi, an electronics manufacturer, seems to be for the new Nintendo 3DS handheld. There's not much to it, but what there is should give hope to fans of widescreen gaming on the go.

That pic above there is most likely a testbed for the Nintendo 3DS. Since the FCC report it turned up in is for its wi-fi system, there's no information on the inner workings of the handheld itself, but as you can see, while most of the board is a mess of prototype components, those two screens stand out clear as day.

The bottom one appears similar to the existing bottom screen on the Nintendo DS. A regular aspect ratio, lighter and looking slightly "spongier" thanks ot its touch screen interface. But get a look at the top screen! It's widescreen, a first for Nintendo's handhelds.

Before you go jumping to too many conclusions, know that this is prototype hardware, so it's not what you're going to see in the final production model. It doesn't take an industrial design student to work out that, if the top screen in this case is widescreen, then when the 3DS ships the bottom screen will probably be widescreen as well.

As for the rest, while it's tempting to spot an analogue stick, be warned that this picture is as hi-res as it gets, so it's tough telling what most of those components actually are (aside from the obvious bits like the screens and speakers).

Oh, and one more interesting thing: buried in the FCC reports is a request by Nintendo that the guts of the handheld not be made public for a time period of 180 days, dating from April 2010. That timeframe would expire just before the Christmas shopping season...

can't imagine why they wouldn't go widescreen (now becoming standard in every industry). even looking at current gen's DS, there's still room either side of the screen (besides speakers), which is just wasted real estate, especially with components shrinking.